During the Texas State Board of Education‘s revision of social studies curriculum standards in 2009-10, David Barton insisted that the board delete labor and civil rights icon César Chávez from a section on citizenship in the Grade 5 standards: “(H)e certainly lacks the stature, impact, and overall contributions of so many others; and his open […]
Textbook Censorship
The Texas State Board of Education decides what every student in Texas public schools will learn from kindergarten through high school. The board does so by adopting curriculum standards and textbooks for public schools in the state.
For decades, far-right politicians on the State Board of Education and their extremist allies have taken advantage of this flawed system to dismiss the advice of experts and scholars. They have instead worked to inject their personal views into textbooks on everything from evolution and climate change to the history of slavery, civil rights, and separation of church and state.
Resources
- Report Reveals Serious Flaws in Social Studies Textbooks
- The State Board of Education: Dragging Texas Schools into the Culture Wars (2008 report)
- Evolution, Creationism & Public Schools: Surveying Texas Scientists (2008 report)
- Culture Wars and the Classroom (2010 report)
- Senate Bill 6: Changes in the Textbook Adoption Process (2011 report)
- Texas Science Curriculum Standards: Challenges (2012 report)
- Science Textbook Review (2013 report)
- Social Studies Textbook Review (2014 report)
Challenger Outspending Religious-Righter Bradley in Texas SBOE Race
New campaign finance reports show that one of the most prominent members of the Texas State Board of Education‘s far-right faction is being heavily outspent in his bid for re-election to the board seat he has held since 1996. District 7 incumbent David Bradley, R-Beaumont Buna, reported spending just under $15,000 in the period from […]
Cynthia Dunbar: Legislators Can’t Make Laws ‘Contrary to What God Has Said’
Former Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) member Cynthia Dunbar still seems determined to destroy the most important protection for religious freedom in America: the First Amendment. As a member of the Texas SBOE in 2010, Dunbar lead successful opposition to requiring that public school students in social studies classrooms learn how the First Amendment […]
The Texas Connection to a Minnesota Extremist and Potential Education Disaster
Allen Quist, the Minnesota extremist Don McLeroy — then chairman of the Texas State Board of Education — tried to appoint as an “expert” adviser during the revision of social studies curriculum standards in 2009, is back in the news. Quist’s appointment three years ago seemed almost a done deal until the Texas Freedom Network […]
Texas Ed Board Candidate Advocates Teaching Creationism in Science Classrooms
One of the Republican candidates for the Texas State Board of Education District 15 seat, Marty Rowley of Amarillo, is offering one of his clearest arguments for teaching “intelligent design”/creationism in science classrooms. Rowley talked to the Amarillo Globe-News for a story about next year’s scheduled adoption of science textbooks by the state board: “Evolutionists […]
